


Angels Are Hard to Find

by oceans_gay



Category: Gravity (2013)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-06-30 05:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15745221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceans_gay/pseuds/oceans_gay
Summary: A life where love and space cross paths. Literally. No time. No affection. Nothing.Too much space for one human being.





	1. Prologue

Nights are always the hardest. Falling asleep. Falling asleep alone. Always the hardest.

Waking up is the second hardest. Waking up. Waking up alone.

Eating breakfast. Eating breakfast alone.

Watching movies. Watching movies alone.

Having panic attacks. Having panic attacks alone.

Alone. Alone.

Always alone.

Ryan Stone.

Ryan struggled to be alone.

It's not that she wanted to be alone. She just had no one.

Not since Matt.

It always use to be falling asleep with Matt.

Waking up with Matt.

Eating breakfast with Matt.

Watching movies with Matt.

Having panic attacks. Matt being there for her. 

Matt.

It was always Matt.

Now she's alone. No Sarah. No Matt. Just Ryan.

Ryan Stone.


	2. Don't Go Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A life where love and space cross paths. Literally. No time. No affection. Nothing.
> 
> Too much space for one human being.

As the days got shorter and the nights got longer, Ryan started to spend more time in the hospital. Almost 80 hours a week. It filled her time; gave her something to do. It was cold and yucky out- people were always coming in, and doctors always needed new x-ray machines. 

As a medical engineer, specializing in x-rays, Ryan is a very smart woman. Always had straight A's, an occasional B, but mostly A's; never missed a day of college; was always one to be right. Smart was her thing. 

Ryan is 31 years old. She knows what she's doing. Knows how she wants to do things. 

So as she sits here tonight, snow falling outside of her window, she thinks about how to make a new piece for the x-ray machine down the hallway. She could just fix it with some duct-tape, but she gets paid too good for that. 

Her mind keeps drifting. Drifting to the people at her home, an hour away from her. The people she hasn't seen in nearly 48 hours. The people who she loves so much. Her daughter and husband. 

Matt wasn't necessarily mad that Ryan spent so much time at work. It was kind of nice; he had just gotten back from a mission, and he got to spend a lot of time with Sarah. But he also wanted to spend more time with Ryan. Matt's family was the main reason he decided to come back. 

And Ryan thinks about that. How her and Matt have been so disconnected for the past month. So she logs out of her computer, powers it off; puts all of her papers in their respectful files; puts her coat on, and shuts the lights off, not looking behind her. 

She gets into her car, putting the heat on right away. She leaves as fast as she can get out of the parking lot. Her radio is quietly playing Africa. Her car blows heat, the black 2006 Lincoln Navigator being her favorite thing she's ever owned. Sarah loves the car. 

Sarah is Ryan and Matt's world. Almost the only thing they have in common any more is Sarah. As a 3 year old, she's a lot smarter than one. Ryan is proud, her daughter knowing how to count to 100, the whole ABC's, can spell her first and last name (Kowalski), and knows the rainbow. Ryan and Matt couldn't be more proud. 

Ryan and Matt had decided to start a family shortly after Ryan had finally finished school. Matt had a job, a good one, training astronauts over in China. He had just gotten done with the job when they talked about it one night. Nearly 5 weeks later, Ryan found out she was pregnant. They moved from Chicago to Lake Zurich and settled there. 

This is what Ryan thinks about right now. She smiles. She misses her family; Matt and Sarah. 

 

-

 

"Hey," Ryan says as she sets her purse down on the foyer table. Matt looks up from the kitchen table and smiles. 

"Long time no see." He smiles. He looks back down to the papers, Ryan walking over to him. 

"What are those?" She asks, sitting down next to him. 

"A "Space Shuttle Explorer" mission, they're looking for a scanning device." He takes his glasses off, crossing his arms on the table. He gives Ryan a smirk and looks into her brown irises. She looks at him quizzically. "They want you." 

"What?" Ryan smiles and shakes her head. 

"They've seen your work. It's a 6 month training. One week in space. Come on!" Ryan stands up and walks towards the fridge. "I'll go with you." Ryan turns around real quick and looks her husband in the eyes. 

"What about Sarah?" She bites her lip over the excitement. 

"We leave her with my sister."

"And the training?"

"She'll be in school. By the time she's out of school, we'll be home."

"You've really thought this out?" She walks closer to her husband and stands in front of him. He looks up and smiles. 

"This could be good for us. Just me and you and some other guys in space. You know things haven't been the same." She looks the other way, losing eye contact, and her smile fades. "Hey," she looks down again. "My last mission, me and you. And then when we get back, we can take care of Sarah, and we can talk about growing the family, huh? How does that sound?" Matt smiles while Ryan thinks. 

Ryan had always had two dreams. 1) to have a family of her own. 2) to go to space. Not to mention the thought of growing her family. It was a subject that had been brought up before Matt left before his last work mission, and they just haven't gotten a chance to work at the subject. 

"Mmmm, I don't know...." Ryan inhales, closing her eyes. 

"Come here." Ryan opens her eyes. Matt opens his arms, and Ryan sits down in his lap, his right knee, the good one. His arms wrap around her waist, and her hands hold his. This is the most intimate they've been since Matt came back. 

"Just let me think about it, okay?" Ryan leans back into Matt, closing her eyes again. "Where's Sarah?" Ryan asks softly. 

"Upstairs playing," he replies. Ryan slowly gets up, walking up the stairs, Matt following. 

When they walk up the stairs, Matt points to the master bedroom. Ryan walks in, seeing the just-turned 3-year-old sprawled out on the bed. Her brown hair is messy. Toys scattered on the bed, too. 

Ryan leans against the door frame, Matt right behind her. He kisses her head, then her temple. 

"I'm sorry," Ryan whispers. 

"What ?" Matt questions. 

"For taking so many hours, not being home even though you just got home." Matt rests his head on Ryan's shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist. 

Matt waits a couple seconds before saying, "It's gonna be one hell of a ride, Ryan Stone."


	3. Don't Let Go

Gravity. Newton's Laws. Science. Physics. 

Love. 

 

 

 

 

"Matt," Ryan says his name sharply, trying to keep him to hold on. 

"Ryan, listen to me: The only way you're going to be able to get back is if I let go. I have to let go." Matt looks Ryan in her brown eyes. "I have to let go."

"Please, Matt don't. Don't let go. We can do this. Hold on. Please," Ryan cries. Matt keeps his hold on Ryan's eyes. "Matt," Ryan says breathless. "Matthew." 

"Ryan, you're running out of Co2. You need to get in the station," Matt says. He slowly lets go of the tether, then unlatching it. "I love you, Ryan." Matt starts floating off. 

"No." Ryan cries as Matt gets more distance. 

"Ryan," Matt yells. Ryan stops choking for air to listen to her husband. "I love you," Matt says softly. 

"I love you, too," Ryan whispers. "Take care of her, Matt." 

With that Matt starts to get further, and Ryan starts getting pulled by the tether back by the shuttle. 

 

 

When Ryan gets into the shuttle, she takes off her suit, finally able to breathe normal again. She wipes her eyes. Pulls herself together. She pulls herself through the ISS finding the radio. 

"Matt, can you hear me?" Ryan asks, putting on the headset. "Matt, it's Ryan, do you copy?" Ryan puts her hand on the window. "Dr. Kowalski, do you copy?" Ryan asks more desperate this time. She pauses for a minute or so, hearing that dumb song Matt always listened to. 

"This is Mission Specialist Ryan Stone reporting from the ISS..." Ryan tells Houston. "All communication with Mission Commander Matthew Kowalski has been lost. Radio transmission is absent. Visual is nonexistent. To confirm, I, Ryan Stone, am the sole survivor of STS-157." She looks out the window one last time. 

Then the alarm goes off.


	4. Just in Time

It was raining. It seemed to always be raining. 

But this time it was different, it was like a happy rain. Like there was some type of hope in the rain. 

 

 

Ryan thanks whatever God is up there right now, because she knows that if she wouldn't of brought an umbrella, her hair would of looked God awful; not that she worried about it too much. 

And as she gets on the subway, she just has to laugh at the situation. It's March, it raining, and she's late for a meeting. Wonderful. Ah Chicago. 

It wasn't like she didn't know where she was going, she's been to several of these meetings. In fact it's almost the only thing she does anymore. Attend these meetings for her colleagues, listening in on "important" things to improve on hospital technology. But today, it just seemed that she didn't want to go. Ryan Stone would skip a meeting. 

So when the subway comes to her stop, she doesn't get off. She waits, smiles, and lets the train start again. 

"Hi," a male voice says beside her. She looks over to see a /man/. 

"Good morning," Ryan replies. One hell of an idea, Stone. 

"Your name?" The guy asks. Ryan turns to take a better look at the guy. He's tan, little younger than middle aged, brown eyes. It's nice. It's change. 

"Uh, Ryan. Ryan Stone." She sticks her hand out. He gently grabs it, shaking her hand is if it were fragile. "And yours?" She asks as he puts her hand down. 

"Matt. Matt Kowalski." He smiles. Charmer. 

"Well then, Matt, it was a pleasure to meet you," Ryan says, smiling. "This is my stop." 

"Right, uh well, I'll see you around, Ryan. Ryan Stone." They get up, walking to the doors. Ryan smiles. 

They walk out. Ryan starts walking, Matt staying behind. Okay, actually Ryan gets three steps in before turning around, grin still plastered on her face. 

"Would you uh, would you want to get coffee?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm kind of at a hump here. I've wanted to write for so long, especially these two, but stupid writer's block. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment. <3

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Gravity fic. Nobody writes about Matt and Ryan, and they are like my favorite het couple. Anyways, i hope to publish this weekly, but no promises. Hope you enjoy!


End file.
